Workers pumped nine feet of water out of the building by Saturday afternoon and still had six feet more to go. The flood took out half of city government's phone lines. The other half of the phone system was in another location, Yager said.

Yager said the storms were particularly tough for city officials to respond to because of the multiple ways they threatened life and property.

“Our emergency responders were ready to deal with a tornado,” Yager said. “We had several reports of tornadoes, then it quickly turned into a flooding event that was even more dangerous.”

Elemental Coffee at NW 8th Street at and North Hudson Avenue was flooded with between eight and 10 inches of water on Friday night, but the water had receded by morning, said co-owner Steve Michael. Stains on the cafe's drywall show the water rose to nearly a foot inside.